Photos Show Missing Reporter

Published 8:00 pm, Saturday, January 26, 2002

The Wall Street Journal has received four photographs of its reporter who is missing in Pakistan, showing him with a gun pointed to his head, a newspaper spokesman said Sunday.

Daniel Pearl, 38, the newspaper's South Asia bureau chief, has been missing since Wednesday, said Steven Goldstein, a spokesman for Dow Jones & Co., the Journal's owner.

Pearl "left with two non-American intermediaries to interview what he and we believe was an important source," Goldstein said. He wouldn't elaborate about the source or the intermediaries. The interview was to take place near the city of Karachi.

"The photos allege that Daniel Pearl is a spy with the CIA," Goldstein told The Associated Press.

"Mr. Pearl _ as all Wall Street Journal reporters _ is solely a journalist. He has no connection whatever with the government of the United States, including its Central Intelligence Agency," he said.

While the government agency doesn't "normally discuss such matters, Daniel Pearl does not now nor has he ever worked for the CIA," an agency spokeswoman, Anya Guilsher, told the AP.

The photographs appear to be legitimate but would not be distributed, Goldstein said.

A reporter at The Wall Street Journal came upon the photos, which were contained in an e-mail, early Sunday, Goldstein said.

While the photographs were in an e-mail headed "New York Times and Washington Post," it was unclear whether the images were received by the two news organizations. Calls to the newspapers were not immediately returned.

The spokesman also said he was unsure whether other news organizations had received the images.

The photos had not been received by the AP early Sunday.

It was unclear whether Pearl's wife, who is a French citizen, was with him at the time of his disappearance.

"As a private citizen employed by an independent newspaper, neither Mr. Pearl nor we can change the policies of the governments of the United States or Pakistan," Goldstein said, reading from a prepared statement.

Those apparently holding Pearl should release him immediately, Goldstein said, adding that nothing can be served by his continued detention.

"We are working with all parties we believe can contribute to this end and will continue to do so," Goldstein said.

Pearl, who has been based in Bombay, India, for two years, joined the newspaper in November 1990.